


Ring-Toss Rabbit

by hybridempress



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Animal Traits, Childhood, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:51:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5383016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hybridempress/pseuds/hybridempress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little spot in the forest with a hollow fallen tree is Alistair's favorite place to spend his days when he needs some time alone to sit and think, but his life takes a very interesting turn when he meets a peculiar creature living inside of his tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ring-Toss Rabbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hetafairy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=hetafairy).



> A very late trade fic for my friend Mariah in exchange for her drawing me some cute platonic franada stuff- I'm so sorry it took so long but I do hope it was worth the wait! I tried to make it as cute as possible just for you! 
> 
> One thing though, Arthur is referred to as an "it" throughout the fic just because he/it has an ambiguous gender... despite Alistair's use of the word "little brother" the topic of Arthur's gender is never brought up in this fic and it felt odd for me to change the pronoun once I had started using it. I hope it doesn't seem too awkward.

    One hundred meters away from Alistair’s house, a luscious forest covered the earth for longer than the boy had ever dared to explore before. The trees were tall enough to reach the sky, and in the spring, their leaves were the greenest green anyone would ever see. When autumn came, they would turn orange and yellow and brown, and they would fall to the forest floor like rain. Fairy circles could be found anywhere in the soft green grass that grew on the ground beneath the trees. It was a magical place, for certain. Some parts of the forest, however, Alistair had found to be much more magical than the others.

    There was a fallen tree in the middle of this forest. It was hidden in a very out of the way grove that resided within the forest. The entrance was covered with vines that grew from the branches of a tree and attached themselves to a rather large rock that stood across from it. Alistair had stumbled into it one day while he was dizzy from spinning around inside of a fairy circle that he had found. He had hoped to summon fairies to himself, but he had found something that was much better, in his opinion.

    The tree had been hollowed out by something when Alistair had found it. The inside of it was completely empty and smooth. He had guessed that the fairies had planned on using it as a home, but they had dispersed before it was used, for some odd reason… It was a shame, Alistair thought, that the fairies had left such a nice tree to lay there and rot. Alistair wouldn’t stand for it. This tree had to be used for something. He would make sure that it was well loved; that the fairies hadn’t hollowed it out in vain.

    The inside of the tree was the perfect size for an Alistair, he thought. After all, he could crawl into it without much trouble, and he could sit inside of it without having to place his head between his knees. This was a good spot, Alistair thought, to sit and have a think when he needed one. It was a good place to cool down after a fight with his brothers. It was a good place to come up with stories. It was a good place to nap. All in all, it was Alistair’s perfect little home away from home, and he loved it more than anything else in the world.

    He kept that spot all to himself, ever since he had found it. He never told his parents about it, or his brothers, or even the little girl from the village that he fancied. The hollow tree was the one thing that he would never share with anyone. The one thing that he was allowed to be selfish with. The one thing that was entirely his, and no-one else’s. He’d keep it that way for as long as he lived.

    Or, at least he thought he would.

    Alistair made it a priority to visit his special spot every single day. It didn’t matter if he could only stay for a few moments. He only needed a few moments to make sure that nothing had changed since the last time he had been there.

    On this particular day, he had only planned on staying in his special spot for a few moments. It wasn’t because he was particularly busy that day, but rather, because he wanted to go spend some time in the village. There was a festival going on, after all, and he wanted to be there on the first day. He just needed to check on his secret spot now before he got too tired to do it later.

    He knew the path like the back of his hand. He could walk there with his eyes closed if you asked him to. He left the house early in the morning, telling his parents that he would be going to the festival. They watched him as he ran from their cozy little cottage, but they did not see him slip into the forest to take his little detour.

    Alistair ran as fast as he could to get to his special little spot and make sure that everything was fine and dandy before he left for the village. At first glance, everything looked perfect. The fallen tree and the area around it looked no different than it had yesterday, or the day before that. However, upon taking his usual inspection of the inside of the tree, Alistair found something quite different than usual…

    There was a creature sleeping inside of Alistair’s tree. A creature that was unlike anything Alistair had seen before. At first glance, it looked like a small human child who was a few years younger that Alistair, but there was something extremely peculiar about this child… In the place of human ears, he had long rabbit ears with blond fur to match the color of his blond hair.

    “What the hell is this…” Alistair whispered under his breath, furrowing his brows and crawling into the tree to get closer to the sleeping rabbit-child.

    When Alistair was close enough, he began prodding the creature’s shoulder in an attempt to wake it up. He gradually became more violent with his shaking and poking until the tiny child opened its eyes. Alistair glared at it.

    “Hey, what do you think you’re doing here? Get out! This is _my_ tree, cumberground. I didn’t give you any permissions to sleep here!” Alistair shouted, and crossed his arms, rather vexed.

   Alistair had expected the child to become scared and run away, but it did not seem to have that reaction at all. In fact, it stared at Alistair blankly for a few moments before turning its head away and closing its eyes, evidently trying to go back to sleep. Of course, this only served to make Alistair more cross.

    “What part of ‘get out of my tree’ don’t you understand, you loiter-sack? You better get out of here before I _make_ you leave!” Alistair exclaimed.

    “Who ever said this was _your_ tree, nitwit? There isn’t a nest in here. There’s no food. You don’t live here. Therefore, I can. And don’t think you can beat me up because I’ll kick your arse before you can even say a word,” the child grumbled, causing Alistair’s mouth to drop. He hadn’t really expected it to be able to talk…

    “Holy Hell, you can _talk??_ ” he asked it incredulously.

    

    “Don’t be daft. Of course I can talk. Do you have maggots for brains or something?” the child asked.

    “Of course not!” Alistair scoffed. “It’s just that you have rabbit ears so I thought… Maybe you don’t know how to speak like humans do…”

    “Well, I can. Now, is that all, or are you going to gape at me some more?” the child inquired, turning his head back to look at Alistair and raising an eyebrow.

    “I… What are you? And where the hell did you come from?” Alistair asked.

    The child shrugged. “I don’t know what I am and I don’t know where I came from. I’ve been on my own ever since I was a baby. Family migrated in the middle of the night and forgot to take me with them, since I was the runt,” it explained.

    Alistair’s face fell ever so slightly. “You mean… You don’t have a family…?” he asked.

    “Nope. I’ve been on my own, always,” the child said.

    “I’m… Sorry…” Alistair mumbled faintly.

    The child shrugged. “It’s not your fault. Though I would appreciate it if you’d let me sleep here in peace,” he said.

    Alistair’s brows furrowed again. “Right. Then, you can sleep here, and from now on, I’m going to take care of you. Got it?” he asked.

    “I’m sorry, what?” the child asked, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

    “Since you don’t have a family, I’m going to be your family now. I’m going to be your big brother. I’m going to take care of you,” Alistair declared.

    “I don’t need to be taken care of,” the child protested. “I don’t need a big brother.”

    “But you’ve never even had a real big brother before! It’ll be good for you! And then you won’t have to move around a lot or fend for yourself anymore!” Alistair told him.

    “I’m perfectly fine on my own. I appreciate the offer, but if you’re going to keep pestering me then I’m going to find a new tree to sleep in anyways,” the child said.

    “Come on, won’t you even give me a try? I promise you’ll warm up to me. I’m not a bad person,” Alistair promised.

    “I’m sure that you’re not, but that fact does not change my answer,” the child said.

    “Please? Just give me one day? I’ve even got something fun planned so that I can show you what being a little brother is all about!” Alistair exclaimed.

    “Good Lord, you’re just as stubborn as I am,” the child scoffed. “You’re not going to leave me alone if I don’t give you what you want, are you?” it asked.

    “Nope,” Alistair said, grinning faintly.

    The child pouted. “Fine. Then I’ll give you a chance just for today. But after that, you better leave me alone,” it instructed.

    “Well, only if you don’t want me to stick around after I show you how much fun being a little brother is,” Alistair said. The child rolled its eyes.

    “Say, what’s your name, anyways?” Alistair inquired, tilting his head.

    “It’s Arthur,” the child replied. “And what’s yours?”

    “It’s Alistair!” Alistair replied, smiling broadly. “Now, come on! I’ve got something fun planned for today!” he exclaimed. After that, he crawled out of the tree and motioned for Arthur to follow him.

    Arthur sighed faintly before turning onto its hands and knees and crawling out of the tree, following Alistair. Once Arthur had come out of the tree and had stood up, Alistair began to walk away from his special place, going back to the path that he had used to get there in the first place. Arthur followed him for a while, but stopped when it realized that Alistair wanted it to follow him outside of the forest.

    “Wait, you want me to leave the forest with you?” Arthur asked, stopping in his tracks, baffled.

    Alistair turned around and looked at Arthur, frowning a little. “Yeah, I do… Is that a problem…?” he asked.

    “I can’t go outside the forest!” Arthur exclaimed. “I’ve never been outside the forest before, and besides! If any other humans saw me they’d think I was a freak! People have tried to put me in circus shows before! There’s no way in hell I’m going in front of a bunch of humans where they can all see my ears!”

    Alistair pursed his lips for a moment, trying to think of a solution to the predicament he and Arthur had found themselves in. Eventually, he decided to remove the small cape that he was wearing around his neck and fasten it around Arthur’s neck, pulling the hood up over its head to hide its ears. Arthur protested at first, but eventually found itself accepting the hood that it had been given.

    “There, now no one has to know you have the ears. As long as you keep the cape on no one will be able to see them,” Alistair said.

    “I suppose…” Arthur muttered, and crossed its arms.

    “Now, come on. Let’s get down to the village,” Alistair urged, and continued to bound down the path and out of the forest. Arthur trailed behind him.

    The village was not that far from Alistair’s cottage, even on foot. It only took a little more than twenty minutes for Alistair and Arthur to arrive at the village’s entrance and to get inside. Arthur was in awe of everything it saw.

    The village was buzzing from the excitement of the festival. There were streamers put up across every house, there was music coming from the square, everyone was laughing and smiling and chattering amongst each other excitedly, and the game booths and shop stalls were abundant throughout the entire village. Children were running around excitedly. Arthur had not seen anything like this before in its entire life.

    “What is this place…?” it asked in a soft voice as it walked closely behind Alistair, instinctively grabbing onto the back of his shirt and looking around with a somewhat scared yet simultaneously excited and wondrous expression on his face.

    “This is the village that is closest to my family’s house. They’re having a festival today! I’m going to show you how to play all the games, and you can help me win prizes!” Alistair explained.

    “There are so many people here… Are you sure that no one is going to notice me?” Arthur asked nervously.

    “I’m sure! Just keep your hood up!” Alistair assured.

    “If you say so…” Arthur muttered.

    “Come on, what game do you want to play first?”

    “I don’t know…” Arthur said. “I don’t even know how to play any of them. I don’t know what they are.”

    “Then… I’ll teach you how to play the ring toss,” Alistair declared, smiling proudly.

    “What’s that?” Arthur inquired.

    “It’s easy! All you have to do is throw a ring and try to get it to land around a stake that’s a little far away! I’m sure you’ll be great at it!” Alistair exclaimed, and grabbed Arthur’s hand and running off towards the ring toss game.

    When they arrived at the ring toss game, Alistair let go of Arthur’s hand and reached into a pouch that was attached to his belt to pull some money out of it to give to the man who was running the game. The man took the money gladly and provided Alistair with four rings; two for him and two for Arthur. Alistair took the rings with a smile on his face and brought Arthur closer to the stake.

    “Listen, all you have to do is stand behind the line and toss the ring to get it over the stake. Watch me,” Alistair said, and put the stack of rings down before picking just one of them up.

    Arthur watched as Alistair shuffled himself behind the line that had been drawn in the dirt. He aimed the ring and tossed it. He watched with a smile on his face as it landed soundly around the stake that had been erected in the ground a few feet away.

    Arthur’s eyes widened, and it gasped softly. “I wanna try! Let me do it!” it begged, tugging on Alistair’s shirt incessantly.

    Alistair laughed softly. “Alright, alright, go ahead and get a ring,” he urged.

    Arthur grinned broadly and let go of Alistair’s shirt before running over to the other three rings and picking one of them up. It then ran back to Alistair and stood beside him, preparing itself to toss the ring over the stake just as Alistair had done. However, when it did toss the ring, its aim was too far, and the ring landed just beyond the stake.

    Arthur frowned deeply, disappointed in itself for having missed such a seemingly easy shot. However, Alistair was encouraging, and urged it to try again. Arthur sighed faintly, but went to get another ring to try again.

    When Arthur threw the ring this time, it just barely landed around the stake. Arthur’s eyes lit up in delight and it smiled broadly, looking to Alistair for approval. Alistair smiled back and clapped for Arthur.

    “You did it, Arthur! I knew you could!” he exclaimed. Arthur laughed.

    Alistair grabbed the last ring and tossed it around the stake. It landed perfectly with the other two, making a total of three rings around the stake. They had only missed one.

    The man who was running the game gave Alistair and Arthur a prize for the game. A small and floppy doll made out of rags and other random strips of fabric, with a crudely painted face. It wasn’t the most attractive toy in the world, but Arthur had never seen anything like it before. Furthermore, it had never won anything in its life. This experience was something that was something that was completely new to it, and it loved every second.

    “You know… You can keep that toy if you want to. I don’t need anymore and you don’t have any. It can be all yours,” Alistair said as the two of them were walking away from the game, Arthur carrying the doll in its hands.

    Arthur’s eyes widened again. “Do you really mean that, Alistair?” it asked incredulously.

    “Of course I do!” Alistair exclaimed. “You’re my little brother now and you deserve the best!”

    “Thank you, Alistair…” Arthur whispered, and hugged the doll tightly to its chest. “No one’s ever been this kind to me before…”

    “Well, I will always be kind to you now, Arthur. I promise,” Alistair said.

    “Thank you, Alistair. And I will try to always be kind to you,” Arthur said, and smiled faintly.

    Alistair led Arthur through the rest of the fair eagerly. They played more games and won more prizes, all of which Arthur was told it could keep for itself. They spent the entire day together, and didn’t start heading back to the fallen tree in the forest until the sun began to set.

    Arthur was sad to leave. It had had so much fun with Alistair that day that it didn’t want the day to end. Truth be told, Alistair didn’t want the day to end, either. Unfortunately, his parents wanted him back home before dark, and if they didn’t hurry, Alistair wouldn’t be able to get Arthur back to the fallen tree before the sun had fully set.

    Arthur and Alistair both made it back to the fallen tree safely and soundly, carrying various toys and other prizes in their arms, before the stars had started to come out. The both of them crawled inside of the tree and dropped everything, and Arthur spread all of it around into comfortable positions before Alistair crawled out of the tree. Confused, Arthur followed him, curious as to where he was going.

    “Alistair, what are you doing…?” Arthur asked as it stood up after exiting the tree.

    “Well, I have to go back home now, Arthur. My parents will be angry if I don’t get back before it gets darker,” Alistair told it.

    Arthur frowned deeply. “But I thought… I thought you were going to stay here… I thought you were going to take care of me…” it whimpered.

    “Oh, Arthur…” Alistair whispered, and pulled the child into a tight hug.

    “I’ll be back tomorrow, alright? I’ll come visit you every day and I will take care of you, we’ll always have fun. I promise I won’t leave you alone. I just have to get back to my parents for the night. I promise I’ll come see you as soon as I can,” Alistair said.

    “Absolutely promise…?” Arthur asked, looking up at him.

    Alistair smiled faintly. “Absolutely promise.”

 **  
** Seemingly satisfied with the answer it had received, Arthur let go of Alistair and crawled back into the three. Alistair kneeled down in front of the opening and whispered goodnight to Arthur, waiting for Arthur to say it back before he stood up again. Alistair smiled fondly at the tree where his new little brother was sleeping one last time before dashing away, out of the forest, back to his home, knowing that tomorrow would bring even more excitement than ever before.


End file.
